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An Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA) is a new requirement for foreign nationals from visa-exempt countries arriving in Canada by air, whether to visit the country directly or to pass through in transit.

The New Regulatory Amendments

Therefore, the authorities decided to amend the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (IRPR). The most significant amendment has been to introduce a new definition of the term “dependent child”. Some of the objectives that the authorities hope to achieve by implementing this revised definition across all CIC lines of business include:

Enhancing the economic integration of immigrant dependent children for increasing Canada’s economic potential

Increasing processing efficiencies

Reducing the risk of frauds and,

Promoting consistency across all programs

The amendments introduced by the authorities also contain various transitional provisions and new regulations. These describe the stage when the authorities would lock in the age of dependent children. In addition, these amendments also contain new regulations that describe the duration of undertaking, applicable for dependent children.

The new regulations come into effect from August 01, 2014. The authorities also published these new regulations in Part II of the Canada Gazette on June 18, 2014.

The New Definition of a Dependent Child

Effective August 01, 2014, the relevant section of Paragraph 2 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (IRPR) declares that a:

“Dependent child”, in respect of a parent, means a child who:

Has one of the following relationships with the parent, namely,

Is the biological child of the parent, if the child has not been adopted by a person other than the spouse or common-law partner of the parent, or

Is the adopted child of the parent; and

Is in one of the following situations of dependency, namely,

Is less than 19 years of age and is not a spouse or common-law partner, or

Is 19 years of age or older and has depended substantially on the financial support of the parent since before the age of 19 and is unable to be financially self-supporting due to a physical or mental condition

As can be seen, this definition of a dependent child narrows the previous definition. It also involves the following two significant changes:

The authorities have reduced the basic age limit for dependent children from the earlier limit of 22 years to the current limit of under 19 years and,

The authorities have eliminated the eligibility for considering older children as dependent children because these children were students

Similarly, the authorities have retained two important provisions in the new definition for dependent children. These provisions concern:

The civil status for certain dependent children and,

The lack of capacity to be self-supporting for certain dependent children

For example, the authorities would not consider children to be dependent if the children are married or in a common-law relationship. Similarly, the authorities would consider children as being dependent if they have certain physical or mental conditions that prevents them from being able to support themselves financially.

The amended definition would come into effect from August 01, 2014. It will apply to all permanent resident applications received by the CIC on or after August 01, 2014. The sole exceptions to this would be applications that are subject to a transitional provision.

The authorities would also apply the new definition to determine whether the accompanying children of a temporary resident applicant qualify as dependents. Moreover, the authorities would interpret all other references to “dependent children” mentioned in the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (IRPR), in terms of the new definition. These applications of the new definition would also come into effect from August 01, 2014.

The Continued Application of the Pre-amendment Definition to Certain Applications

During the implementation phase, CIC officers could receive permanent resident applications before August 01, 2014. They would need to assess these using the pre-amendment definition of a dependent child.

In addition, the CIC could receive certain permanent resident applications on or after August 01, 2014. These applications could come under programs covered by transitional provisions. In this situation, CIC officers would need to assess these permanent resident applications, using the following pre-amendment definition of a dependent child:

“Dependent child”, in respect of a parent, means a child who

Has one of the following relationships with the parent, namely,

Is the biological child of the parent, if the child has not been adopted by a person other than the spouse or common-law partner of the parent, or

Is the adopted child of the parent; and

Is in one of the following situations of dependency, namely,

Is less than 22 years of age and not a spouse or common-law partner,

Has depended substantially on the financial support of the parent since before the age of 22—or if the child became a spouse or common-law partner before the age of 22, since becoming a spouse or common-law partner—and, since before the age of 22 or since becoming a spouse or common-law partner, as the case may be, has been a student:

Continuously enrolled in and attending a post-secondary institution that is accredited by the relevant government authority, and

Actively pursuing a course of academic, professional or vocational training on a full-time basis, or

Is 22 years of age or older and has depended substantially on the financial support of the parent since before the age of 22 and is unable to be financially self-supporting due to a physical or mental condition

The Transitional Provisions

Transitional provisions have the ability to mitigate the impact of the amendment to the definition of a dependent child temporarily. These transitional provisions would apply to cases pertaining to multiple-step permanent resident immigration programs where:

The preliminary processes went underway by August 01, 2014 but,

The applicant has not submitted the Application for Permanent Residence (APR) to the CIC yet

Thus, applicants could complete this process using the pre-amendment definition of a dependent child. However, this would only be applicable in case the applicants have already initiated their immigration process prior to August 01, 2014. The section on The New Procedures Applicable contains further details on this.

Applicants could derive benefits from a transitional provision at the Application for Permanent Residence (APR) stage. To achieve this, they would need to ensure that their dependent children are:

Unmarried and,

Not in a common-law relationship

This is especially so if these conditions were requirements for meeting the pre-amendment definition.

The Lock-in Regulations

For Applications for Permanent Residence (APRs) received by the CIC on or after August 01, 2014, the new lock-in provisions would apply. These new lock-in provisions would not apply to those applications, which would benefit from any of the transitional provisions.

Among all the applications received by the CIC, some would meet completeness requirements. When they receive these applications submitted on paper, the CIC officers give it a date stamp at the CIC office, designated to intake applications for the applicable program or category. This date stamp denotes the day the CIC received the application. The CIC would also receive some applications electronically. For these applications, the date of receipt would be the date the CIC promotes the application in the Global Case Management System (GCMS). These dates equate to the date of making an application. This is in accordance with the prescribed Regulations.

The authorities amended the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (IRPR). They did so to define clearly and consistently the requirements for assessing the locked in age of children. This exercise is crucial for evaluating whether or not the children meet the definition of a dependent child. Some applications would benefit from a transitional provision. These applications would be subject to the lock-in procedures in existence prior to the introduction of these amendments.

Currently, officers would lock in the age of a dependent child at the first formal stage of the application process, under which the principal applicant is applying. This is in accordance with the new lock-in regulations. Officers can generally divide permanent residence application processes into:

Single step processes: These involve the submission of an Application for Permanent Residence (APR) along with a sponsorship application, wherever applicable. In these cases, the CIC officers would consider the age lock-in date to be the date on which the CIC received the application.

Multi-step processes: Under these processes, the principal applicant would initially need to apply for – and meet – the: